


Swarm

by yeaka



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Gen or Het
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26022535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Elijah’s got fans.
Relationships: Original Chloe | RT600/Elijah Kamski
Kudos: 21





	Swarm

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Detroit: Become Human or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

The blindfold is just low enough that everyone can see the calm blue LED on Chloe’s pretty forehead, so no one questions Elijah as he tugs her through the park. He takes her not far in—they’ve bypassed the enormous lineup outside, and now they step out of the way of the bustling foot traffic that occupies the street. Tucked in a quiet corner by a cotton-candy stall, Elijah lets go of her hand. Her posture straightens, and she stands in that one spot like she’s rooted to it, like she’ll never move again unless he asks her to, even if it takes two hundred years. Chloe is easily his most _loyal_ model. Although, the redhead outside was plenty eager to serve him too—the smiling EM400 waved him through with a look of awe and no questions asked. Ironically, despite all his billions and his early retirement, Elijah hasn’t personally paid for anything in years.

There are some things neither money nor fame can by. He circles around behind Chloe and deftly unties the blindfold, letting it fall back into his hands. Chloe politely asks, “Shall I open my eyes, Elijah?”

He doesn’t answer right away, making her wait as he steps back beside her. He wants to see her pretty blue eyes when they open—wants to judge for himself just how much of a reaction blooms inside them. She can hear all the sounds around her, can likely process the various scents of badly-made barely-food. But she has no frame of reference for any of those new sensations. This is the first time he’s ever brought her to such a place. He tells her, “Happy Activation Day,” and then, “open your eyes.”

Chloe does. They go wide, then wider, long lashes extending to their full height as she peers all around surroundings. She eyes the stream of children skipping past them, the busy parents and laughing teenagers, the floating balloons and oversized stuffed animals and fellow android attendants. The path is lined in small attractions—high caloric food stalls and mini-games, but larger sights loom up behind them—a Ferris wheel, even a roller coaster. The park is in its prime and constantly under renovations, likely do to cutting so much cost over android workers. Chloe looks at everything in nearly palpable glee before asking him, “May I?”

“Whatever you like,” Elijah answers, gesturing to the world at large. That excitement is exactly what he hoped for. She flitters forward like a happy schoolgirl, weaving gracefully through the crowd to eye a popcorn stall. He moves to follow her, quite ready to buy whatever she should like, even though she has no stomach to house food and no room to put stuffed animals inside. He’ll win her prizes anyway.

He’s stopped by an EM400 walking right into his path. The android has a mess of red hair under his hat, round cheeks and cute freckles, a trim body dressed in the same uniform as all the other EM400s. Even all the faces Elijah’s seen have matched. Evidently, the park’s owner didn’t want to waste money on various designs. The redhead’s charming and disarming enough to merit multiples—he smiles directly at Elijah with a flare of recognition that only his first Chloe’s ever had. 

“Mr. Kamski,” the android greets, ducking his head like a shallow bow. “Can we just say how _honoured_ we are to have you in our park?”

Elijah blinks. Something odd flutters in his stomach—he’s not used to his creations treating him with such reverence, though simpering humans who want something from him often do. Androids have no wants, so they don’t have to suck up to him. He opens his mouth to respond, but then another EM400 is at his side, all but squealing, “Mr. Kamski! It’s such an honour, Sir!” 

He politely mutters, “Thank you...” and sort of trails off, because he’s not used to thanking random androids.

The one in front of him misunderstands and offers, “Jerry.”

“We’re Jerry too,” a third one mentions, stepping around from behind him and offering a hand. “It’s a pleasure, Sir!”

Elijah awkwardly shakes ‘Jerry’s’ hand, only for a fourth Jerry to peek between the first two, wondering allowed, “Is that really...?”

“It is!” a fifth one confirms. “Mr. Kamski, thank you for your excellent work in android design!”

“And thirium!”

“Oh, especially thirium!”

“Do you plan on returning to the field any time soon?”

“Not that you haven’t already done enough!”

One of them squeezes between the others to sidle up to Elijah, flushing slightly across his freckled cheeks as he exuberantly asks, “Would it be too much to get a picture with you?”

Elijah’s just tall enough that he can spot Chloe’s blonde head over the mob of Jerrys. She smiles pleasantly at him, expression somewhere between curious and amused. For her sake, he sighs and agrees, “I suppose.”

The Jerry next to him makes a high pitched whining sound like an infatuated teenager in the arms of their favourite celebrity. The Jerry leans in close, turning a wide grin to his companions, and the Jerrys all stare intently at him, perhaps storing the image into separate memory banks for later circulation. He’s grateful the other Jerrys don’t press for pictures of their own—to be fair, all the pictures would come out exactly the same anyway.

After a lengthy pause, the Jerry steps away from him and chirps, “I hope you have a pleasant stay at Pirate’s Cove, Sir!”

“Just ask us if you need anything, anything at all!” another jumps in.

“We’d be proud to serve you!”

“Absolutely!”

“You’re going to have a whale of a time, Sir!”

Chloe’s giggled. Elijah’s so trained to be in tune with her reactions that he picks it up easily over the raucous din around them. In a way, this trip was to be another study of her emotional growth—the state of his technology so many years on. This isn’t quite the stimulus he’d expected to introduce her to. 

As though requesting a lifeline, he holds out his arm. Chloe instantly squirms her way through the sea of Jerrys to tuck in at his side. 

Maybe there’s a small part of him that enjoys her seeing him so popular. Maybe a small part of him is proud of the EM400s too—he never programmed celebrity worship into any android, yet at least a dozen have left their posts to come greet their creator. If that isn’t a spark of _life_ , he doesn’t know what is.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t own CyberLife any longer. The EM400s aren’t his jurisdiction. Chloe is. And he promised her a rousing Activation Day. So he says, “Gentleman, if you please...” and as they politely part around him, he guides her off to a ring toss game where he wins her three animatronic dwarf gourami fish that make her smile like any human.


End file.
